Thick-layer conductor path pastes containing powdered metal and fritted glass are generally known to the art. A common feature of such pastes is that they contain in powdered form conductive metals, such as silver or palladium. For the production of conductor paths in hybrid circuits and the like, such thick layer conductor path pastes are applied to a glass- or ceramic (vitreous) carrier substrate by some known technique, for example, by the silk-screen printing technique, followed by drying, and then subjecting to a baking process. In addition to conductor paths, printed circuit components, such as resistors, capacitors, or the like, can also be formed on the glass- or ceramic carrier using such a paste. Furthermore, by interposing appropriate insulating planes, one can construct, using such a paste, circuit carriers with a plurality of conductor path planes.
The known thick-layer conductor path pastes unfortunately characteristically possess a strong tendency to diffusion, so that specific components thereof penetrate into adjacent layers in a circuit construction. If conductive components of the thick-layer conductor path pastes diffuse either into the dielectric layers of capacitors, or into the insulating planes of multi-layer circuit carriers, the danger exists that short-circuits will occur. Micro-pores and fine cracks in the insulating layers substantially increase this danger. The formation of diffusion zones between thick layer conductor paths and printed resistors is also undesirable because such zones cause resistances value to alter and greatly impedes an accurate calculation of resistances.